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In You Don’t Know About Me, Brian Meehl’s contemporary re-imagining of  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Meehl takes the reader on an engaging, thought-provoking road trip across the Western US with 16 year old Billy Allbright.  Billy and his mom have lived a nomadic existence, going from town-to-town hunting out sinners and standing up for Jesus.  It’s been a pretty sheltered life, not attending public school, staying away from mainstream media and other un-Godly temptations, and running from the repercussions of their not-so-legal fundamentalist tactics.   When they arrive in Independence, MO, though, something shifts in Billy as he realizes he’s tired of this nomadic existence and he’dRead More →

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In Noah Barleywater Runs Away, Boy in the Striped Pajamas authorJohn Boyne, again captures the pure essence of childhood, tinged with sorrow and colored with hope.  8 year old Noah Barleywater is running away from home – he’s ready for adventure and to make his mark on life – and there’s something happening at home that he just can’t face. So it’s time for him to strike out on his own and see where the world takes him.  Where Noah ends up is deep in the forest in front of a mesmerizing tree, talking to a dachshund and a donkey who tell his some interesting tales aboutRead More →

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Paul Volponi has a talent for capturing the authentic voice of teen guys.  His books regularly display a straightforward, economic style that gets directly to the bare bones of his teen protagonists’ struggles with relationships, right and wrong, maturity, and a whole host of other real-life issues.  In every Volponi book I’ve read, I am always struck by the authenticity of the characters, the moral ambiguities, and the masterful blend of reality and fiction.   And his latest, Crossing Lines, is no exception, focusing on bullies, victims, and the people caught between them. The tension builds slowly over the course of the first few weeks ofRead More →

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Senior Jake Martin is the school’s soccer star: he’s got the magic that pulls off win after win and keeps him at the center of the school’s in-crowd.  But the magic means more to Jake than just winning on the field; his obsession with prime numbers and his increasingly complex daily rituals keep him focused, keep his family “safe,” and keep the spiders and their choking webs from taking over his mind.  Jake’s third soccer state final championship is coming up on Saturday, and if everything goes perfectly by the numbers, he’s sure he’ll be free of the demons that plague him. Heidi Ayarbe plungesRead More →

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August, 1896: 17 year old Willie is a liar and a thief.  She’s fleeing to Indian Territory, using a stolen name and teacher’s certificate, to take a position as English teacher at the Cherokee Female Seminary.  Willie assumes she’ll be teaching backwards Indian children and hopes that the chances of being discovered and sent back to her family farm are slim.  But she’s not prepared for what awaits her in Oklahoma: the Seminary boarding school educates both the daughters of the Cherokee Elite, and the poor tribal girls there on scholarship, many of whom are more educated that Willie is; the Headmistress is stern and extremelyRead More →

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16 year old London Lane has a secret: every night since she was 6 years old, when she goes to sleep, her memory of her past disappears. Instead, she awakens with “memories” of her future life, remembering people, places, and events that have not yet occurred.  London can’t remember the day before today, or any day of 16 years of life.  Her mom and her best friend Jaime are the only people who know her secret and they use a system of nightly note reminders, cell phone alarms, and old-fashioned partnering to help London navigate her daily high-school life.  It’s a somewhat maddening, precarious existence,Read More →

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14 year old Mike’s dad is a genius – an overweight, socially inept, clueless Engineering genius – and they don’t get along at all. Since his mom died, Mike’s had to learn how to take care of all the details in their lives, from paying bills to grocery shopping, and he feels like he’ll never be what his dad wants him to be.  When his dad announces suddenly that he’s spending the summer teaching a grad class in Romania, and that Mike will be going to his great aunt & uncle’s place in rural Pennsylvania, Mike is completely shocked.  But as a kid accustomed to rolling withRead More →

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Never having been a 9-year-old boy, I can’t say for sure, but… if I had been, then I would have loved screenwriter EJ Altbacker’s new series, Shark Wars.  Easily identifiable character-types, sharks, fierce action, sharks, high stakes conflict, sharks, quick pacing, sharks, and highly cinematic detail, (and did I mention sharks?), combine into an easily readable series for 8-12 year old boys (and some girls too). These books are perfectly positioned for an animated life and already have a free game for smartphones.  Altbacker hooks his readers quickly and the attempts at conveying life lessons – choosing true friends over popularity, bullying, holding true to oneself, and doing the rightRead More →

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Making its US debut in May 2011, German YA best-seller Ruby Red  is a perfect mix of mystery, supernatural fanasy and romantic adventure.  Gwen is a typical 16 year old girl living with her mom, siblings and her extended family in a posh London neighborhood.  She’s a spunky, skeptical teen who’s managed to live a fairly normal life despite the time-travelling gene that runs in the women of her family (although Gwen isn’t without some supernatural abilities of her own – she can see and converse with ghosts).  This generation’s carrier is her haughty cousin Charlotte, whose been through years of secret training to prepare herRead More →